Review: Fantasy and Science Fiction, May/June 2012, Vol. 122, No. 5 and 6

Quick review. This month Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine should be titled Just a bit of Fantasy & Science Fiction. There is only one story that can be defined as Fantasy and that is "Maze of Shadows" by Fred Chappell.
Chappell's story is complex but entertaining, with talking cats, stolen shadows and a setting that reminded me of The Elder Scrolls.
"Liberty's Daughter" by Naomi Kritzer is an interesting piece, politically charged, about a disappeared girl. In my opinion the characters do not really live up to the plot, but it is nonetheless a plausible view of a possible futuristic society and its structure. I would say that Kritzer did a good job.
"Asylum" by Albert E. Cowdrey is surely the best piece of the issue. It is a story about life, death and the after-death. Enjoy the party until it lasts!
"Necrosis" by Dale Baley is worth mentioning for its quality and its brevity.
"City League" by Matthew Corradi is about family memories and memory storing. To use a cliche, the story is a homerun because it is about baseball. Baseball plus Sci-Fi is a sure success with me.
Summarizing, this issue of F&SF is pretty much average. However, we need more fantasy!

What do I read?

Here's a list of periodicals that I usually read.

On paper:
- Fantasy & Science Fiction
- Weird Tales
- Asimov's science fiction
- Analog
- 2600
- Texas highways
- Texas wild and parks
- The baseball research journal
- Avionics magazine
- Rotor & wings
- American Historical Review

Online:
- Baseball prospectus
- CNN.com (not really a periodical)

Sometimes I read:
- Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
- Alfred Hitchcock magazine
- Locus
- Doctor Who magazine

I am writing!

As promised, I am actually writing. It is too early to draw any conclusion, so I will wait until next week to post a status update.
In the meantime, here's a suggestion by Gareth Powell:

“I will give you the best piece of advice I was ever given: just write the fucking thing. Getting the words down on paper is the hard part. And it doesn’t matter if your first draft sucks. All first drafts suck. The important part is that you write the story. Then, when you’ve finished it, you can go back and edit it, polish up the text to make it shine. Editing is easier than writing. So, if you have a story to tell, just write it down without worrying how it sounds. You will not hit perfection first time. But you will get a completed first draft that you can then work on, to bring it up to professional quality. A lot of people make the mistake of trying to edit as they go along – of trying to make each sentence perfect before moving on to the next – and that is deadly. Just write. Tidy up later. Go for it”  ( http://www.garethlpowell.com/all-first-drafts-suck/ ).

Master Plan: The writing routine

I have talked about it for years. I have dreamed it for years. I pretended it for years.
Now it is time to write - and write seriously, there are no more excuses, no more issues and no more delays. I cannot leave ideas alone, I gotta try. It is a matter of survival.
For the first time I have a plan and it has to work since it is pretty simple. I have two short stories and one long story in my mind. I think that they can somehow work after I have put them on paper (well, on screen). Since I am not trained nor a full time writer (ok, I published some stuff in a couple of Italian magazines, but it's different) I will need to stick by a believable routine. Every professional writer says that a writing routing is the key to get something out.

"You must write every single day of your life... You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads... may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world." (Ray Bradbury)

"If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word" (Margaret Atwood) 

Apparently even Jerry Seinfeld does not joke about it.

So, here's the objective:
First short story (about 5000 words)
Second short story (about 8000 words)
Novel length story (76955 words; incidentally it is the length of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone plus one word).

That is how I plan to reach the objective:
First short story, about 200 words a day.
Second short story, about 250 words a day.
Novel length story, about 500 words a day. I guess.

How will I proceed? Simple... I will write down the first short story. If math does not change, it should take twenty-five days to write it down. While I am writing it, I will not revise it. Then, I will let it sleep for about one week or ten days. Then the revising part will begin. I plan to spend the same amount of time revising it. In fifty days (ok, it might be sixty but don't say it out loud) I should have a publishable story which I will submit. As much as I want it, I do not expect success but to learn something.
Then I will proceed with the second story, using the lesson learned while writing the first story. In reality I already have in mind how I will tackle the long story but this is not right moment to work on it.
Right now I won't say how I will proceed with the second story; my brain has to work mainly for the first so no distractions.
In addition, I will update this blog with the progress and whatever comes to my mind.
The most difficult part is going to avoid life to get in the middle, so plenty of organization and support will be necessary.

Review: American Gods

Cut to the crap: "American gods" by Neil Gaiman is a masterpiece.
This said, let's examine it a little bit further. Shadow is released from prison the day his wife, Laura, dies in a car accident. Still shocked by her death he meets a mysterious guy, Mr. Wednesday that knows about Shadow more than Shadow himself. After a long conversation on the plane, Mr. Wednesday hires Shadow as a personal bodyguard. Obviously, from this moment forward Shadow's life is going to change radically. He will have to deal with ancient gods and new gods, he will have to overcome several trials and he will even play a deadly game of checkers, resembling the most famous chess game of Bergman's "The seventh seal". The book has several subplots, most of them very interesting.
This book, made me think about forgotten gods. What happened to them? Are they still gods? How would they feel if they knew that humanity forgot them? How would all the people that sacrificed for them feel if they knew that their gods were written off human history? Most likely this is the intent of the author.
Gaiman succeeded on writing a polyhedric book while keeping Shadow the only main character, without ever distracting the reader. In all truth there is one more main character: America itself. This book is also an amazing panoramic road trip in the soul and shape of this land.
Reading online, some of the criticism comes from the length of the book. Yes, the book is pretty long, but not too long. I do not think that any part could have been removed; in other words, shortening this book would have been a heinous crime. In addition, saying that a book is too long is similar to saying that a Mozart's symphony has too many notes.

I strongly suggest the reading of this book; I actually believe it should be mandatory.
Good job, Mr. Gaiman!

 

Goodbye, genius.

Ray Bradbury

1920 - 2012

Have a good trip.

Possible baseball readings (living list)

Some possible baseball readings. This note is for the future. I will buy some of these, I will get some other at the library and I will discard a few. This is a "living" list, so it will change in the future. Let's see:

• "Beyond Di Maggio" by L. Baldassaro. List price: $34.90, Amazon price: $24.90. Will get it for sure.

• "Bottom of the 33rd - Hope, redemption and Baseball's longest game" by Den Barry. List price: $14.99, Amazon price: $10.99. Will read for sure.

• "The everything kid's baseball book" by Greg Jacobs. List and Amazon price: $8.99.
• "Ball four" by Jim Bouton. List price: $15.95, Amazon price: $10.85

• "The boys of summer" by Roger Kahn. List price: $14.99, Amazon price: $9.67. Will read for sure.

• "The lords of the realm" by John Helyar. List price: $29.99, Amazon price: $24.99. Will probably read.
• "The glory of their times" by Lawrence Ritter. List price: $14.95, Amazon price: $11.84. Will probably buy.

• "Babe: the legend comes to life: by Robert Creamer. List price: $16.00 Amazon price: 10.88.
• "Games of shadows" by Mark Fainaru-Wada. List price: $15.00, Amazon price: $6.00.
• "Baseball between the numbers - Why everything you know about the game is wrong" by John Keri and the Baseball Prospectus team. List price: $17.95, Amazon price: $12.91
• "Pinstripe empire: The New York Yankees from before the Babe to after the Boss" by Marty Appel. List price: $28.00, Amazon price: $16.80
• "Baseball before we knew it: a search for the roots of the game" by David Block. List price: $19.95, Amazon price: $13.53
• "The girl who loved Tom Gordon" by Stephen King. List and Amazon price: $7.99.

• "Texas Baseball: A Lone Star Diamond History from Town Teams to the Big Leagues" by Clay Coppedge. List price: $19.99, Amazon Price: $14.99. Will get it for sure.

Tyler State Park

No, death did not overcome me; the blog is still alive. I have been VERY busy trying to unpack all of our stuff. From a certain point of view unpacking is more difficult than packing because you want it to be over as soon as possible but it seems never-ending. Also, familiarizing with the new house may be an interesting adventure. Getting to know all the quirks, the walls, the tricks and traps of the building can be pretty overwhelming. In addition, having to take care of the yard may be an adventure of its own. I may post something about it later on.

Last weekend my family and I left town to go to Tyler State Park, in Texas. We camped out from Friday 25th to Monday 28th (Memorial day). 

The park is pretty big, more than 950 acres and, as the name suggests, is pretty close to the city of Tyler, TX. The park has several hiking trails and a decent-sized lake. Available activities are plenty. What we did the most was hiking, swimming and, of course, cooking. Pedal boats are also available for $10 for one hour or $20 for three hours. The park's dimensions allows it be pretty quiet and, with the exclusion of the main swimming area, is not overcrowded. 

We hiked three trails. The first we did was the beautiful B trail (about 3.5mi). Under trees and in the woods it is very inspiring. Tall trees cover the area and nature can be enjoyed at its best. We all loved this trail, although it was pretty long for our 5 year old kid (always bring plenty of water). One huge mistake was not to bring snacks for the hike.

The second trail was the Lake view trail. Disappointing, the contact with nature is minimal. It's pretty short (1.5 mi) and some parts are on the road or on RVs parkings. 

The third trail was the Whispering Pines trail. Very short (0.75mi) but also very interesting. It is an interpretative trail so many signposts provide the necessary information to better understand the environment.

The nights were very beautiful. Of course we made some fire (they sell firewood; $1 for 3 sticks), and we cooked hamburgers, hot dogs and s'mores on it with the help of a rack. 

The restrooms were a bugs nest. I mean, I was kinda scared of pulling it out. A couple of scorpions, several flying bugs and spiders were common voyeurs there. However, nothing really attacked us.

Voyeuristic Scorpion

We were able to spot squirrels, an armadillo and a racoon visited our campsite a couple of times (he was in search for food; unlucky for him, we ate it all!).

In the end, the long weekend was very beautiful, the kids had a lot of fun and now they want to go to a weeklong camping!

Moving or moving on?

Moving on is an important part of life everyone should strive for. Moving, meaning the act of boxing/unboxing/packing the car/renting U-haul/etc., is another part of life no one really strives for.
I recently became a homeowner. I will soon move with my family to a new house. It is the typical American house, with a nice front yard and a beautiful backyard. I am basically becoming a new Homer Simpson (which means I need more beer in my refrigerator and a decent load of donuts). So, should moving be considered a positive or negative activity?
The physical act itself is pretty tedious and stressing. Living for days between boxes – which are inside another huge box called ‘house’ or ‘apartment’ – can really make someone go postal. It requires organizational skills that most people, including myself, do not have. When moving, the mission is to save time and space. Not because aliens are invading us while our galaxy is colliding with a parallel universe, but because every possible step has to be taken in order to avoid additional and often ineffectual work as much as possible.
Moving means to reinvent the self, to reorganize the house and to reinvent the whole handling of issues. Schedules are changed, roads are different. Bills will be sent to a different address; even the driver license will be different.
So, from a certain perspective, moving is one of the many faces of ‘moving on’. Old habits will have to be left behind and a page will have to be turned.
As Leto Atreides warns young Paul in ‘Dune’ “A person needs new experiences. They jar something deep inside, allowing you to grow. Without them, it sleeps - seldom to awaken. The sleeper must awaken. ”

In other words, moving boxes from an old house to a new one is nothing more than the preface to the new experiences. Looking for the house, signing the contract, meeting the title lady at the title agency and moving the boxes can be defined, using John Campbell's method, as the 'separation' phase.
And later comes the mysterious part. Every new adventure brings challenges. The 'initiation' phase will begin as soon as we start sleeping in the new house. This will happen next week. What lies ahead? Is it possible to know or at least to have an idea? For sure I will have to fight with Texas' heat. Temps are way too high for grass to grow in peace. Bugs, snakes and maybe some scorpions will try to defend their kingdom and I, as Conan the barbarian, will have to destroy it. Who'll be the last one standing? I will prevail!

April/May's (very variable) book queue.

I am currently reading "American Gods" by Gaiman. So far I am loving it. "Soon" a review.

I just bought "This Alien Shore" by C.S. Friedman.

Next in line is "The Plucker" by Brom. After reading "The child thief" I expect another great book by the author.